Essence of Time
by LadyBookwrm
Summary: The losses of the 2nd wizarding war were immense. Hermione lost so many people dear to her. Time has healed some of the wounds but some still chafe with every breath. Hermione decides to travel back in time to kill Voldemort in order to save countless innocent lives. What she did not plan on was to fall for a black-haired, motorcycle riding marauder while doing it!
1. Chapter 1 - The Begining

Essence of Time

The losses of the 2nd wizarding war were immense. Hermione lost so many people dear to her. Time has healed some of the wounds but some still chafe with every breath. Hermione works in the British Ministry of Magic as an unspeakable of the time chamber. Her one goal since she passed Hogwarts has been to alter time so that she could defeat Voldemort and his Death-Eaters during the 1st war so the children in her time could grow up with their own families instead of being imposed upon relatives. But travelling in time really isn't that easy. When Hermione lands in 1979 she hardly expected to find herself falling for a gorgeous black-haired, motorcycle riding marauder while trying to find ways to kill Voldemort, save lives and maintain her cover story!

Chapter 1: The Beginning

**13 August 2000, 3 pm**

Finally! Finally, after 3 months of unending researches and trials & errors, Hermione figured out how to solve the problem of going back in time without being sucked back to the present. This was the main problem with going back for a period longer than 24 hours, the person was inevitably sucked back to the present by the time turner after 6 hours. That was not going to work for what she had in mind. She wanted to go back nearly 22 years ago and stay there for at least 2 years to change what she needed to and improve the current circumstances of the wizarding community of United Kingdom. The trick she realized was that she had to remove the hour-glass at the centre of the time-turner and stabilize it with two additional rings along with a magical marker that contained the essence of the wearer of the time-turner. For her, it was a scrap of a page from her favourite book tied in a string of her hair. This she realized was the easy part of her plan.

She made a mental list of the things that needed to get done before she could even think about using the time-turner. Firstly, she had to get information regarding the first war and all that happened after Harry's parents were murdered and Voldemort fell. This included all the trial transcripts form the wizengamot's court to the secret files that were ferreted away to keep some important people's dirty deeds hidden. This was, of course, the result of galleons changing hands, she thought with a snort. For that, she knew she would need the help of someone with a security clearance level that was higher than hers. Secondly, Hermione also realized she was going to have to scour old newspapers to make a sense of the timelines of attacks of the death-eaters in the muggle and the wizarding world simultaneously. Thirdly, she would have to talk to someone who lived through that time and was a key player of that war, Dumbledore. The best way to do that, she discerned would be to talk to his portrait at the headmaster's office in Hogwarts.

She sighed and got up to get out of her office in the Department of Mysteries and decided that she was going to dive headlong into her planning tomorrow. Today she could jolly well celebrate her achievement of perfecting her new time-turner. Hermione got into the lift to go to the Head Offices of the Magical Law Enforcement on 2nd floor to go see Harry and catch up with him. She checked the date on her brand new Nokia mobile phone which she more often than not, forgot to charge. With a little shock, she realised that she hadn't talked to Harry in almost 3 months. She put her hands on her face a blew out a breath. Sooner than she would've thought, the elevator voice announced the 2nd floor and the doors opened. Hermione stepped out and headed towards Harry's desk in the Auror Department. Harry had just completed his auror training 6 months ago. She found Harry reading a report of some sort with intense focus as if he could solve it just by staring at it hard enough. She smiled at him.

"Hey Harry!" she said sitting down in the chair opposite him.

"Blimey 'Mione! This is a surprise." Harry said jumping up from his seat to give her hug.

"I know, I know and I'm sorry I haven't seen you in so long!" she apologised.

"That's okay 'Mione, I know your work is demanding but hell witch, come up for air sometimes!" Harry grinned at her and she beamed at him.

"I've missed you." She said sitting back down on the chair.

"I would believe you if wrote to me in more than once every 15 days" Harry teased.

And so the two of them spent the rest of the day together, going out for a late lunch and then going back to Grimmauld Place to hang out with Ginny (who was on a break from the Harpies and had also moved in with Harry a few weeks ago). They laughed late into the night eating Chinese takeout and talking about their latest adventures.

Hermione walked into the headmaster's office in Hogwarts alone after getting permission from Professor McGonagall to talk to Dumbledore's portrait. She was slightly nervous about what he would say to her regarding her plans. She stood in front of his magnificent portrait and smiled at the old wizard.

"Hello, Professor!"

"Ah, dear Ms Granger! What brings you here?" He asked smiling at her expectantly.

_Straight to it then_, Hermione thought to herself. "Professor Dumbledore I need your advice on a matter that I've not yet discussed with anyone else. I am planning to travel 22 years in the past to the apex of the 1st War to change history. I want to kill Voldemort before he kills James and Lily Potter on 31 October 1981."

"I see," Dumbledore said pinching his nose in the portrait. "Why do you want to do this Hermione?"

"Because the price was too great the second time around. We lost close to a million lives in a span of 2 years not counting the decade of horrors that was the first war. So many children and adults' lives lost and for what? Being born to parents without magic? Having no magic at all? A whole flower of a generation gone because of that soulless madman who thought himself God. If you had more information during that first war I'm sure you could've saved so many innocents!" she finished.

"Yes, I'm certain if I had more information I would've been able to do better." Dumbledore sighed.

"Then will you help me make this world and the lives of so many people better?" Hermione asked.

"I must ask you something first Hermione before I agree. Did you perfect the time-turner for your long journey back?" he quizzed her.

"Yes professor, I managed to do it about a week ago." she answered.

"Wonderful! Oh, how brilliant! I always knew you were a bright spark Ms. Granger! What changes did you make?" he asked beaming at her. She explained to him the changes and spells she had made to the complicated knots of the time-turner in order to stabilize and modify its use. Dumbledore's portrait was awestruck at what she had managed to accomplish.

"Yes, of course, I'll help Ms Granger. What year do you have in mind to go back to?" He said gently.

"I was thinking 1979, just after Regulus Black's death when we know that 5 Horcruxes would have been made and placed into their hiding spots by Voldemort." she suggested.

"That sounds like a good choice Ms Granger. You sound well prepared." Dumbledore praised her. "To get my past self to trust you, you must tell me that you know the truth about me not interfering in Grindelwald's war, about the blood pact I made with him before Ariana's death and that it's my biggest regret in my life."

Hermione nodded solemnly and then they proceeded to hammer out more details of the things she would have to prepare for. He made her recognize that even though she was going back to save lives that she still might not be able to save some of them and some of them might die due to the ripples she would cause by going back in time. She also might come back to a world where nothing would be as she was going to leave it. She was going to have to have to be diligent about her cover story to explain to the rest of the world how she had just suddenly popped into existence out of nowhere. For 3 hours the back and forth between them continued as they tried to figure out Hermione's game plan for the past.

When she left she felt a renewed sense of purpose. She was going to make sure she did her damn best to avoid this overwhelming sense of loss that haunted her life these days.

Her next meeting was with Minister Shaklebolt a week after she talked to Dumbledore's portrait. He was not so easily convinced of Hermione's plan. She had been trying to make him see the benefits of it when suddenly he asked what year she was planning to go back in. When Hermione told him that she had tentatively set it to be somewhere mid-year of 1979, Kingsley covered his face with his hands. When Hermione asked him why he wanted to know that, he began to tell her about his wife Pheobe and son Lysander and their murder at death-eater hands in May 1980. He made Hermione vow to help his past self save his family and in return, he would get her all the documents relating to the 1st war that she needed to get her hands on.

And so her preparations began to travel back to the year 1979 to change the course of history.

She made charts and notes and read the mountains of paperwork that Kingsley gave her access to from the secret library of documents on the Minister's Floor in the Ministry of Magic. She also took private duelling lessons from Kingsley to prepare for the confrontations that were sure to come in her path. She steadily increased her repertoire of spells to include spells other than basic combat and household spells. It took her nearly 5 months and many sleepless nights to be sure that she was not going to fuck up the world for worse when she got back to the present after killing Voldemort. She talked to Dumbledore 3 more times to get a sense of what was really happening, what living through that time felt like and what contingencies she should prepare for. At last, she felt ready that she could make it through the challenges that would come her way.

**2 January 2001, 5 am**

Hermione made the final checks to her appearance standing in the ladies restroom at the Hogsmead Station. When she was satisfied that she hadn't forgotten anything, she closed her green leather knapsack that had a featherlight charm along with an undetectable extension charm and a modified anti-intruder jinx to go with it. She secured it on her shoulders and pulled out the chain of her time-turner. She started the twists, turns and spells that would take her 21 years and 5 months back into the past.

At first, time started to rewind slowly and then picked up such ferocious speed that colours blurred together that Hermione could barely make out the flashes of them as whipped around her in a swirling vortex. Hermione's stomach started to churn horribly and just when she thought that something must have gone horribly wrong time began to slow down. Hermione fell to her knees and vomited the contents of her light breakfast on the floor of the restroom which looked much newer to her right now. She groaned and then got up, her stomach still jumping. She thought she must have done something right because she could make out the slight changes in her surroundings than from minutes previously. After vanishing the vomit using _Evanesco_ she stepped out of the station and walked on to the path towards Hogwarts under the rising light of dawn on the date of 1 August 1979 to meet with Dumbledore.


	2. Chapter 2 - Consilium

Chapter 2 - Consilium

**1 August 1979, 5:45 am**

It took Hermione 20 minutes to get to the gates of Hogwarts. She pushed the gates inwards to try to open them but they were locked. Somehow in all her planning and packing, she'd forgotten to account for the fact of what she would do when she got to the gate. In the warm light of the morning sun, she looked around to see what she could do. She couldn't very well apparate or fly into the castle from the outside, so she thought she must get someone to let her in from the outside. She summoned her vine wood wand from the wand holster up her arm and transfigured a nearby rock into a table to write a letter that she would then levitate towards the Headmaster's residence quarters so that she could be let in.

_Dear Prof. Dumbledore,_

_I am requesting an immediate and urgent audience with you to discuss matters that will be of monumental significance in the ongoing war. I am waiting at the gates of Hogwarts right now to wait for admittance._

_Emilia Smith_

She rolled up the paper around a small pebble and tied it with a neat blue magical thread that would only give way for Dumbledore and tell her the letter had been opened. She then levitated it to the third-floor window where the residence of Headmaster was in the castle. She felt the magical thread disappear 10 minutes later. She transfigured the table back into a rock and sat down to wait for him to come and get her.

**15 minutes later**

She looked up to the sound of crunching leaves only to see Hagrid make his way towards her.

"Yer Emilia Smith?" Hagrid asked her curiously.

"Yeah, that's me." Hermione replied with a slight smile.

"Alright, come on in. Professor Dumbledore sent me to fetch yer" Hagrid smiled back at her and opened the gate to let her.

"Thankyou..uh…" she trailed off pretending not to know who he was.

"Hagrid, Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts" he told her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hagrid. I hope I didn't wake you up."

"Nah, I was about to get up to feed me chickens and other animals anyways."

And so they continued chit-chatting about his animals and the various other creatures he looked after in the forest. Soon they reached Dumbledore's office and Hagrid said the password _ice mice_ and the gargoyle in front of his office jumped aside to let them in. Hagrid knocked on the door and they heard a soft _come in_ from the other side.

"Here's Emilia, Professor Dumbledore sir."

"Ah yes, Come in Miss Smith, have a seat." Dumbledore said looking at her through his half-moon spectacles from behind his desk.

"Will you be needin' anythin else sir?" Hagrid asked Dumbledore.

"No, no that is all Hagrid. Thankyou" Dumbledore smiled kindly at him while Hermione got sat down opposite Dumbledore. She noticed that his office contained far fewer inventions than there were 1997. Hagrid nodded at the professor and left, closing the door behind him.

"So Miss Smith, I am given to understand you have some information for me?" He fixed her with a look. His twinkling blue eyes seemed like they were x-raying her.

"Yes Professor Dumbledore. I have time-travelled from the year 2001 to change the course of this war in favour of the good side." Hermione told him with a solemn face.

"I see. Why should I believe you are from the future Miss Smith?" He asked her his face going from a kind easy expression to a serious intensity as he studied her.

"I was told by your future self to tell you that, I know your biggest regret and your greatest desire in life." Hermione said looking him straight in the eye.

"And what did my future self tell you?"

"Your greatest desire is that you wish you could've done more for your sister Ariana Dumbledore, taken better care of her so that she might've lived longer and your greatest regret is making the blood-pact with Gellert Grindelwald because it tied your hands that war in ways which were devastating." Hermione finished.

Dumbledore got up from his chair and walked to the window that overlooked the lake and did not speak for several minutes. Hermione waited patiently for him to come back.

He came back to his seat after a few minutes and said "I believe you, Miss Smith."

Hermione grinned back at him, "I'm glad Professor Dumbledore, so now we can get into the details?"

'I suppose so." He smiled back at her.

"Okay, okay good, 'cause my name isn't really Emilia Smith, it's Hermione Granger." Hermione replied.

She started by telling him about the prophecy that was made to him in 1980 by Sybill Trelawney, the granddaughter of the renowned seer Cassandra Trelawney. She told him how this led to a series of events that led to James Potter and Lily Evans' death and their one-year-old son being orphaned. From there, Hermione went on to tell him about her time in the wizarding world, coming to Hogwarts in 1991, about her friendship with Harry and Ron and all the adventures they had through the years they spent in school. Dumbledore listened patiently while Hermione recounted the events of saving the Philosopher's Stone, the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, her time-turner in the third year, then about the Triwizard Tournament in the fourth and how Voldemort was reborn using a cauldron and spell of his own devising. She then spoke about Horcruxes and how she believed that by today in 1979 Voldemort had created five and hidden each of them in a different magically secured place.

"Dear lord! He created horcruxes as in multiple of them!" Dumbledore looked at her with absolute horror in his eyes.

"Yes sir, as you already suspected that he used dark magic on himself that altered his appearance when he came to ask you for a job years ago, now you know what dark magic changed him." Hermione explained to him.

"And you know where all of them are and how to destroy them?"

"I think so, yes. It'll the most convenient for us if will destroy them with Gryffindor's sword, but for the sword to work on it we must first impregnate it with the basilisk's venom."

"So the Chamber of Secrets and Slytherin's monster are real? And a giant basilisk is living in the castle moving through the pipes? Do you know how to get to the chamber Miss Smi- sorry Miss Granger?" He fired questions at her one after the other.

"Yes, yes and yes sir. Please call me Hermione." She smiled softly at him.

"Alright Hermione, but you should call me Dumbledore, no need to say professor since I never actually taught you." He grinned at her. "I would like to ask you more questions and there are obviously more details and events we have to talk to each other about but for now we must adjourn our meeting since I've got a breakfast meeting with Minister Minchum, he is the current Minister for Magic in the United Kingdom."

"Yes sir, I mean Dumbledore, I know all about him and his policies and his successor. I came well prepared." She smirked at him.

Dumbledore looked at her, chuckled heartily and then said "Hermione let me take you to my private residence for now so you can rest and have some food. I'll call Leonna with breakfast for you, she's a kind old house-elf that oversees the rest of the elves in the castle. She can be trusted implicitly. I'll come get you as soon as I'm able. Then we can get working on your cover story and find you your own private residence."

"Thankyou Dumbledore. That would be very nice." She said gratefully.

"Leonna!" Dumbledore called loudly and the elf appeared with a loud snap.

"Yes Headmaster sir, Did you want me bring yours breakfast sir? I'm sorry I didn't know you was awake Headmaster sir." Leonna looked up at him. Leonna was an old elf with huge blue eyes that shone with kindness. She dressed in a clean towelette with the Hogwarts crest on it. She then noticed Hermione and quickly gave her a deep bow "I'm sorry miss I dinna see you. Would ye also be needin' somethin'?"

"Leonna, This is Miss Emilia Smith and will be staying in my private residence in the guest bedroom for now. I would like you to take good care of her and give her whatever she needs. For now, you can just bring her some breakfast and tea please." Dumbledore told the elf kindly.

Dumbledore took her to his residence which was through a secret door hidden behind the bookshelves in his office. His residence was a beautiful open space that had even more books than his office. It was cosy and comfortable decorated in different shades of light blue and white. It had magical house plants that swayed as if caught in a slight breeze. He took her through the living room to the hallway straight ahead and stopped in front of the last door on the right side.

"Here's your room Hermione. Get comfortable, eat, rest and call for Leonna if you need anything. It might be lunchtime when I get free but I'll try to clear the rest of my day so we can discuss things properly." he said to her kindly. "Also there's an en-suite bathroom should you need it."

Hermione thanked Dumbledore and walked into the room that he had given her. It was a beautiful room decorated with mint green furnishings. There was a big four-poster bed on the back wall and a fireplace and sitting area to the left of the doorway. She placed her knapsack on an armchair and went to see the bathroom. It was also furnished in a similar green colour with a bathtub and shower at the left-hand side, washbasin in front and chamberpot beside the door. Hermione went back to the room to get clothes out of her knapsack. Even though she had charmed herself clean after the vomit, she still felt a little greasy.

When she came out of the bathroom all refreshed, she found Leonna waiting for her beside the fireplace table.

"Miss Smith, I has brought your breakfast miss." Leonna said.

"Thank you Leonna," Hermione said kindly.

"Will you be needin' anythin' else miss?"

"No, Leonna that will be everything. Where should I leave the tray for you to collect? Also please call me Emilia, Miss Smith sounds too much like my mother." Hermione giggled looking at the elf. This was true because her mother's maiden name was Sophia Emily Smith. She had taken the name Granger after she married her father.

"I would be thankful to you miss if you could leave it on the kitchen table miss." the elf beamed up at her. The next moment the elf vanished with _pop_ and Hermione sat down to eat her food. Leonna had prepared a full English breakfast for her and it was delicious. After eating her fill Hermione took the tray down to kitchen isle and started looking for the ingredients to make herself a cuppa of tea.

Taking her mug of tea Hermione feet carried her towards the massive bookshelves that were on both the sides of the immense fireplace. Dumbledore not only had magical texts in his personal library but muggle literature too. They varied in subject matter from fiction to philosophical ones. Hermione saw the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and summoned it down from the shelf to read. It was one of her all-time favourite books. She settled in an armchair and then tucking her wand back up her holster she started to read the book midway through. Soon her thoughts drift from the book to her present situation mulling about the best way to tell Dumbledore the rest of her story.

It was almost 3 pm by the time Dumbledore came back to his residence.

"I didn't peg you for a romance reader Miss Granger." Dumbledore said coming over from the doorway.

"Everyone must read recreationally sometimes professor Dumbledore." She smiled at him.

"Yes, yes that's quite true. On another note, I managed to clear the rest of my day and most of tomorrow so that we can sort out our plans for your time here."

"Yes sir, I was just thinking about how to best tell you about the rest of my story till the point I came here. I think it's going to give you a clear view of things if you were able to_ see _my memories of my original timeline for yourself."

"Ah...So you want to use the Pensieve in my office?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Yes, sir." Hermione nodded at him.

Dumbledore left to get his Pensieve and Hermione collected her thoughts in her mind in an order that would explain all the necessary points of her timeline to the professor. She started from her fifth year and went all the way to the year she spent with Ron and Harry in a tent. She also lined up all the information about Horcruxes that she knew, how they looked, their history as told to her by Harry, how the trio managed to destroy them and the final Battle of Hogwarts that resulted in Voldemort's death. She also added her memories of the aftermath of the 2nd wizarding war, the mass funerals and scores of graves that were dug, the state Hogwarts was in after the battle.

As soon as Dumbledore set the stone basin in front of her she put her wand to temple and started to pull out the blue threads of her memories to put them in. She had to do this several times before she decided that she had conveyed enough of her memories so that Dumbledore would be able to get a clearer picture of the 2nd Wizarding War. Then she started to put her memories of preparing to time-travel and the last memory she put in there was the last time she went to see Dumbledore's portrait before travelling in time. She finally looked up towards Dumbledore and nodded for him to go in and see the memories.

It took him one hour and thirty minutes to see all of that which Hermione laid out before him.

"Oh, my dear girl, how terrible it is that you had shoulder such heavy burdens at such a young age. I am so sorry for you. You are so brave for still fighting and knowing that the world will not remember the sacrifices you have already made and will have to make in the time to come." Dumbledore said to her several more minutes after he came back. There were unshed tears in his eyes. Hermione had no response to this so she simply looked away and closed her eyes. Dumbledore came and hugged her tightly to his chest. After a moment she too wrapped her hands around the older wizard taking the comfort that he gave her. So the old wizard and the young witch stood there holding the fate of the world between them.

**At dinner, the same night, around 8 pm**

"So now that we have discussed everything that has already happened and things that will happen to your timeline, we must come up with your cover story." Dumbledore said finishing up the of his pudding. "Do you have any ideas for that?"

"Yes, I thought up several ones before I came here, but talking to you now I think I know the perfect one. We can say I'm the granddaughter of your good friend from school Simone Gray. She moved to The States soon after she graduated Hogwarts and her son, my father Richard Smith was your godson. They all died 4 years ago due to a sudden swift outbreak of dragon pox that happened in New York. I moved to London last month and finally decided to come to meet you and join the Order of the Pheonix to help fight in this war." she finished.

"That is remarkably well thought out Hermione. I think it will work perfectly." Dumbledore said appreciating her thoroughness. Hermione nodded in thanks.

"So our first order of business tomorrow is to go to this Room of Requirement and find the Diadem of Ravenclaw. We will also have to kill the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets with Gryffindor's sword." Dumbledore counted.

"Yes sir, but we can't kill the basilisk tomorrow because that will require some additional preparation on both our parts. Instead, I was thinking we could to Godric's Hollow so that I can buy the cottage that is opposite the Potters' cottage there. That way you could introduce me to them and I can keep an eye on them."

"Yes, I think you are right Hermione. We shall also introduce you to Minerva, Filius, Poppy and Pomona tomorrow at breakfast. It's time I think that the world is introduced to my godson's daughter. To Emilia Gloriana Smith." Dumbledore said raising his glass of wine towards her.

Hermione raised her glass and clinked it with Dumbledore's, "To Emilia Gloriana Smith. May she change the world for the better."


	3. Chapter 3 - Introductions

**Chapter 3 - Introductions**

**2 August 1979, 8:30 am**

"Ready to go down Miss Smith?" Dumbledore asked Hermione with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes, professor Dumbledore."

Dumbledore and Hermione left his residence and entered his office. There, for the first time in almost 4 years, Hermione saw Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, perched on his stand beside the huge desk.

"Ah, yes, this is Fawkes...my phoenix," Dumbledore informed her. She grinned back at him went to approach Fawkes. "And it seems you already know him."

"Hi Fawkes, I'm Hermione," Hermione said bowing her head a little in his direction. Fawkes cawed back at her in a greeting and Hermione looked up at him. She went forward with her hand outstretched and stopped a little before she touched him, to wait for him to give her permission to touch. He craned his neck forward and the top of his brilliantly red-orange head touched her palm. Fawkes radiated a warmth that felt like the tickle of fire when you step into the floo to travel. Her whole body was suddenly felt so pleasant and light that she couldn't help but smile so wide that she was afraid her face might split in half. After a few moments of stroking him, Hermione stepped back.

"You know, I can count the number of people that Fawkes has let touch him on my left hand." Dumbledore said his eyes filled with wonder.

Hermione smiled back at him shyly and said "Phoenixes are excellent judges of character, I'm glad he approves of me."

The duo then made their way to the great hall for breakfast. Hermione had dressed in high waisted blue jeans and a black button-down shirt, tucked in her pants and secured by a dragon-hide belt. She had put up her hair in a ponytail so that they were secured out of her way. She also took her knapsack with her as she doubted she would have reason to return back here with Dumbledore.

Hermione noticed as she entered the Great Hall behind Dumbledore that the four house tables had been pushed aside to either side of the room. There was a single big round table that occupied the centre of the room instead. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn along with Madam Pomfrey and Hagrid were already seated and chatting amongst themselves when they arrived and took their places on the table.

"Everyone this is Miss Emilia Smith, my godson Richard's daughter. She just moved to England a couple of weeks ago and came to see me yesterday."

"Is that why you missed dinner Dumbledore?" Professor sprout inquired.

"Yes, Emilia and I had some catching up to do, so I thought we would do it over dinner. She has also consented to join The Order of the Pheonix to fight Voldemort in this ongoing war." Dumbledore explained.

"Emilia this is Minerva McGonagall, she teaches Transfiguration at Hogwarts and is the deputy headmistress as well as the head of Gryffindor House. This is Filius Flitwick, he teaches Charms and is head of Ravenclaw House. This is Pomona Sprout, she teaches Herbology and is head of Hufflepuff House. This is Horace Slughorn, he teaches Potions and is head of Slytherin House. This is Poppy Pomfrey, she is in charge of medical care of castle residents and I suppose you've already met Hagrid. We live here year-round so as to prepare for the various years' administration work and the sort." Dumbledore said pointing to each professor that Hermione had known since was 11 years old. She pretended not to know anything about any of them and peppered them with questions as they made their way through breakfast.

"Hermione and I are going to Godric's Hollow to look for a cottage for her. I should be back by lunch should any of you need me." Dumbledore said as they got up from breakfast. Hermione shook everyone's hand and then she left with Dumbledore. They made their way down to the front gate in order to apparate away to Godric's Hollow. She took his offered arm and they promptly disappeared to the apparition point behind the village's church barn.

**The same day, Around 1 pm**

Dumbledore and Hermione had looked at 4 wizarding cottages in the village as of yet and none of them felt right to her. She had almost given up hope of finding one that day and was making her way to the apparition point with Dumbledore when she spotted a _For Sale_ sign in front of the gate of a small cottage. The owners looked to be 60 something-year-old couple. They were locking the gate and moving to get into their car when Hermione approached them.

"Excuse me, hello, my name is Emilia Smith. I want to ask, is your house still up for sale?" she inquired.

"Yes dear, it is." the woman smiled.

"May I see it?"

"Yes, of course, my husband and I will show you inside. I'm Elenor Wilton and this is Steve Wilton." the woman introduced herself and her husband. Hermione introduced them to Dumbledore and they all went inside to look at the cottage. Elenor and Steve were a muggle couple who had retired last month and were moving to Australia -to be closer to their children and grandchildren- tomorrow. They had not found a suitable buyer for their house and were going to leave a friend in charge of selling it.

Hermione looked around the two-floor cottage with Dumbledore. It had a simple design of a living room, dining room, kitchen and a powder room on the ground floor and a master suite, guest bedroom and bathroom on the second floor. The master suite also had a balcony which Hermione found to be wonderful. The cottage was airy and had lots of big windows which was why it was full of light. Hermione knew she loved the house when she came back down and noticed the huge bookshelves with a grand piano in front of it.

An hour later Hermione had bought the cottage with the cash she brought with her from 2001. Elenor and Steve assured her that she could move-in today itself as all their stuff was already sent to Australia. They were going to stay in a hotel near the airport anyways as they had an early flight to catch. With that, they handed her the keys to the house and left.

"Professor Dumbledore, don't the Potter's live in this village?"

"Yes, yes, Lily and James live just down the road from you now, actually." He said.

"Would you introduce me to them? I would like to get to know the parents of my best friend." She looked up at him, her voice a little nervous and expectant. Dumbledore took her to the door of The Potter Cottage and knocked twice. A few moments later Lily came to open the door.

"Professor Dumbledore! This is a surprise! Come in, come in." Lily beamed at him and opened the door wider to let them in the house.

"Thank you Lily dear" Dumbledore stepped into the cottage with Hermione following behind.

Once they sat in the living room Dumbledore introduced Lily to Hermione "Lily, this is Miss Emilia Smith. She is the daughter of my godson and has recently moved here. She just actually bought the cottage up the lane from you. I thought I would introduce you both as you both have such similar interests." Dumbledore finished. Lily and Hermione shook hands and sat down. Dumbledore suddenly looked at his watch and said, "Oh dear, it looks like I'm about to be late to a meeting. Why don't you two carry on and I'll see you soon?"

Hermione and Lily nodded and waved goodbye to Dumbledore at the front door.

"Would you like something to drink Emilia?" Lily asked.

"Some tea would actually be wonderful" Hermione replied.

They went to the kitchen and Hermione sat down on the stool in front of the kitchen island. The cottage was beautifully decorated in various shades of white and brown. It was cosy and looked well-loved.

"So what school did you go to?" Lily asked Hermione.

"I went to Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in America." Hermione replied.

"Wow! What was that like?" Lily prompted her.

Hermione told her about Ilvermorny houses and her house (Pukwudgie). She fabricated her time at the school by saying she was a bookish loner who spent her time mostly by herself. She created her friends similar to the characters to her real-life friends like Ginny and Harry. Then Lily went on to tell her all about her time at school. She disclosed that she was a muggleborn and told her about the bullying she faced at school because of it. Then she told her about James, Sirius, Remus and Peter and all their pranks at school. When Hermione asked if that was the same James she had married, Lily blushed and nodded. After a little cajoling from Hermione, Lily started to tell her about how she had started dating during their 7th Year at school.

"We got married about 6 months ago because of you know, the war. Neither of us really wanted to wait and we knew we were right together." Lily finished.

"That's amazing Lily!" Hermione said with a soft smile.

"Oh god! I didn't realise it's almost time for James to come home. Let's go get dinner from the pub in the village." Lily said with a slight alarm.

"You said you were a freelance potioneer. Don't you cook yourself?" Hermione asked, her curiosity peaking at this.

"Well...er...no, not really. I spend most of time making potions in my lab in the attic" she said and then muttered under her breath "I anyways manage to over or undercook it every damn time."

Hermione laughed at that and said, "How about I'll cook today and you can help me up with the chopping and everything?"

"Oh! You know how to cook?"

"Well I'm not a proper _chef_ or anything but I can make a few things here and there."

"We will have to go down to the market to get the ingredients for whatever it is that you want to make. I only have breakfast cereals, milk and alcohol at home." Lily giggled.

It was almost half-past six when they returned back to Lily's house and began cooking. Both the girls chatted animatedly about the books they liked and the kind of potions Lily made as a freelance seller. Lily told her that she ran a small mail-order potions service, selling regular use potions for acne, the draught of peace, dreamless sleep, constipation cures and stuff like that.

They were waiting for the lasagna to be done when they heard the sound of the front door opening.

"Lily! Dear and I are back. Sorry, we got late but there was this disturbance in Cheadle and we had to go sort it out. Did you get dinner?" James spoke from the hallway.

Lily went out to greet her husband and said "Yes sweetheart, dinner is almost ready."

"You know...er...I'm not that hungry anyway. Sirius and I had a big lunch." James said backing to go to the living room when his eyes fell on Hermione looking at them bemusedly.

"Uh...yes...yes...I'm also rather full Lily. Big lunch like Prongs said.."Sirius trailed off.

"Both of you can stop pretending, _I_ was not the one who cooked, _Emilia,_ did. She made lasagna." Lily rolled her eyes at them. Hermione stepped further into the hallway and Lily introduced her to James and Sirius. "James, Sirius, this is Emilia Smith. She moved into the Wiltons' cottage up the road. Em, this is my husband James and our best friend Sirius. They are aurors at the ministry."

Hermione went forward to shake James' hand and then shook Sirius' hand. When she touched his hand she felt a sudden spark jolt up her arm. Her eyes immediately shot up to face to find him wearing a similar expression shock. Noticing they were still holding each other's hand, Hermione quickly let go and looked away breaking away from his gaze. She felt a sudden sort of tingle go up her spine. They heard a distinct _DING_ from the oven in the kitchen.

"You boys go wash up, I'll lay down the table." Lily said and she & Hermione moved to the kitchen. Hermione magic-ed the dish of lasagna out of and floated it to the dining room across the kitchen. Lily was laying down the tableware using her wand. She then summoned a bottle of red wine and poured 4 glasses of it. They all took their places around the table and began to dig into the food. Both men thanked Hermione for the delicious food.

"Don't mention it!" Hermione blushed.

"So, Emily what did you do in America?" James grinned at her.

"Well, my family owns a small chain of apothecaries in New York." Hermione said putting her fork down.

"So you work for the family business, eh?" Sirius said.

"Sure, I help out when they need me. My father used to take care of it most of the time." Hermione replied.

"He retired?" Sirius continued.

"My parents died last year, during the dragon pox spread." Hermione said quietly.

"I'm sorry for your loss." James said softly. "My parents also passed away last year because of it. I'm only thankful they didn't suffer too long."

"Mine neither, thank the lord." Hermione said. "Anyway I tried to the day to day managing of the business but it's not for me, so instead I hired a witch, Mrs Garroway to do it for me. I just look after the books now."

"So how do you spend your time then?" Lily asked curiously.

"I don't think I should tell you. These two being aurors and all." Hermione said smirking and jutting her chin towards Sirius and James. In her own time, Hermione had made up an elaborate back story for herself with the help of Kingsley. It had taken her months to perfect each little detail of herself in this new character so that she wouldn't be caught out in conversations like this. She had to have an explanation for her duelling skills all the battlefield fighting and healing experience she had.

"Now you have to tell us!" Sirius said looking straight at her. Hermione held his gaze for 10 seconds and then sighed.

"Eh...Well...Only if you three _promise_ not to tell anyone." Hermione said slowly. All three of them nodded back at her.

"I am an underground duellist." Hermione confessed.

"Woah!"

"What's that?"

"That's so badass!"

Sirius, Lily and James said respectively. Hermione grinned at them.

"It's basically a type of magical fighting with a very limited amount of rules." Hermione explained to Lily who looked at her with wonder in her eyes.

"Have you been doing it long?" Sirius said looking awestruck.

"About 4 years now…"

"You gotta duel with me someday," Sirius said immediately.

"Me too!" James said.

"What about you Lily? Wanna duel with me as well?" Hermione grinned and nodded back at James and Sirius.

"Umm...I'm not sure… I was never very good at all this stuff." Lily said shiftily.

"Why don't come with them both anyway and you could decide if you want to duel me later?" Hermione offered.

"Ahh…well, alright. What harm will it do anyway?" Lily said rhetorically. Hermione smirked back at her.

The four of them talked and laughed until almost midnight when Hermione finally got up to leave and go back to her cottage. The four of them developed one of the instant friendships that feel like you might as well have known the other person for a lifetime instead of just hours. She and Sirius had been sitting next to each other all night and there was something electric between them that it almost felt tangible. They inadvertently kept brushing against each other in inconspicuous ways that Hermione wasn't totally sure what was happening.

"I'll walk you to your cottage Emily." Sirius said at the door of the Potter's cottage, offering Hermione his arm. Hermione took his arm and smiled slyly up at him. There was good 6-inch difference between their heights as Hermione noticed as she walked beside him out of the cottage. She turned and waved back to James and Lily.

"Owl me once you find a place to duel and we'll set up a date and time to meet." she hollered at them once when she passed their garden gates.

She and Sirius then walked up the road to her cottage in silence neither of them knowing what to talk about now that they were alone. They reached her garden gate and she left his arm to walk in. When she turned he was standing so close that if both of them leaned they would easily be able to kiss. Hermione's breath hitched and her heart skipped a beat thinking about kissing Sirius when she remembered, this man was her best friend's godfather and almost 20 years older than her. Hermione moved to step back when Sirius caught her right hand in his left. His hands were calloused but gentle. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. His lips were so soft that Hermione barely felt a ghost of his touch and suddenly Hermione had a mad urge to giggle. He let her hand drop and stepped back. Hermione smiled at him and then waved her hand in goodbye.

She had opened her door and was about to step in when she heard him say "Come to lunch with me Emily".

"Owl me!" She said over her shoulder and went inside her house. She shut the door and leaned back against it. She sighed and went up to her new room to write a letter before she went to sleep.

_Dear Prof. Dumbledore,_

_Thank you for helping me find this amazing cottage. I'm so grateful that you introduced me to Lily. She's a wonderful person and I think we are going to be fast friends. In another matter, we must start planning for the chamber and its resident as soon as possible. It must be dealt with before the new school year starts._

_Yours truly_

_EGS_


	4. Chapter 4 - The Basilisk

Chapter 4 - The Basilisk

Author's Note: Hey guys! I am re-uploading this chapter because there were errors I found in the previous version. I've also added a few more lines at the end that makes the situation forward clearer, so make sure you read it. I'm also almost done with ch5 and should be uploading that very soon.

16 August 1979

"Dumbledore, just out of curiosity, how old would you say the basilisk is?" Hermione puzzled. She had _floo-ed_ to his office almost half an hour ago. They were waiting for Hagrid in his office.

"Well, if it really is the same monster that Salazar Slytherin left in the school then I'd say close to 9 centuries old give or take a few decades." Dumbledore mused.

"You think the rooster method would really work? We take a _Silencio_-ed rooster down there, find the basilisk, lift the charm and then it'll be dead?" Hermione said a bit unsurely. The plan was too simple, too straightforward and easy to sit well with her.

"In theory, it should work. They cry of the rooster is fatal to the basilisk." Dumbledore replied calmly followed by a rapt knock on his door.

"Enter!"

"Here's the rooster yer asked fer Professor Dumbledore sir." Hagrid said pulling out the rooster from his pocket. The rooster began to crow immediately and loudly. Hermione hastily pointed her wand at it shot a non-verbal _Silencio_ at it. The rooster upon losing its voice tried to flap its wings which were securely held in Hagrid's enormous grip.

"Calm down ye great lump. No one's hurtin' ye" Hagrid said to the rooster.

"You can hand it to Emilia Hagrid. Thankyou" Dumbledore said calmly.

Hermione took it from his hands and held it securely within her grip. After Hagrid left they picked up the sword of Gryffindor from behind Dumbledore's desk and made their way to moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor. They had withdrawn the sword from the sorting hat when Hermione first came to the office.

"Myrtle! Are you in here?" Dumbledore called out once they entered the bathroom. Myrtle zoomed out of an u-bend toilet and floated to a stop in front of them.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore" Myrtle said morosely.

"Hello, Myrtle. I am in need of this loo for the time. Could you please leave here for a few hours" Dumbledore said in an authoritative voice.

"Yes, sir." Myrtle replied sullenly and floated out through the wall.

Hermione went to the sinks and then proceeded to bend down and search for the serpent on the tap. She tried to remember what sounds Ron had made during the Battle of Hogwarts to open this tunnel. After a few tries, Hermione finally managed to make the right combination of sounds and the tap suddenly glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. The sink moved and then sank into the floor, vanishing entirely. Hermione came face to face with that exposed pipe for the second time in her life. She looked back at Dumbledore to find an expression of wonder on his wrinkled face.

"Now we have to slide down this pipe and then walk towards the chamber." she told Dumbledore. He nodded, then stepped into the exposed pipe sliding out of sight. After a minute Hermione followed him with the rooster still clutched in her hands.

The tunnel was still slimy and dark as before. The pipe twisted and turned sloping steeply downwards. Soon the pipe levelled out and she landed on the stone floor with a dull thud. Dumbledore was already inspecting the area with his lit wand when she stood up.

"Fascinating! I think we're even below the dungeons of Slytherin common rooms. Somewhere close towards the floor of the Black Lake." Dumbledore told her. Hermione nodded at him and they began to move forward with both of their wands lit. They kept their ears peeled for even the slightest sounds of the basilisk. After numerous twists and turns, they finally came face to face with the wall with the two entwined serpents whose eyes set with glittering emeralds the size of tennis balls. Hermione looked at Dumbledore who nodded towards her. Hermione repeated the sounds that she had made upstairs to tap and it worked at the first try. The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight and Dumbledore and Hermione walked inside, their eyes on the floor.

They stood in a dimly lit hall with an odd greenish hue. It had towering stone pillars with more carved serpents that rose high up to support a ceiling that was so high up it was invisible to them from the floor. They looked at each other and then walked towards the other end of the chamber with their wands held high. Soon the colossal statue of Salazar Slytherin came into view.

"When I speak parseltongue again, I'll open the mouth of the statue and that's where the basilisk should come out of. Be ready to remove the silencing charm on rooster immediately when you see even a hint of the basilisk. We should be as swift as possible." Hermione warned Dumbledore. Dumbledore nodded towards her.

Hermione started making the hissing sound repeatedly when they heard the jaw of Slytherin's statue start to move. Dumbledore held up the Sword of Gryffindor in one hand and his wand in the other. They both rushed towards a sidewall and closed their eyes. A few moments later they heard a gigantic thud on the floor and knew the basilisk must have landed. Dumbledore pointed his wand at the rooster in Hermione's hand when Hermione saw in the reflection of the pooled water at the base of the statue that the snake was heading towards her head. She closed her eyes and ducked the same moment Dumbledore's spell struck and hit the stone pillar behind her. In this kerfuffle, the rooster fell loose from her hand and started to flap away. Hermione started to chase after it when she heard Dumbledore's shout from behind.

"Hermione! Just hit the rooster with the spell! Nevermind catching it!" Dumbledore yelled at her.

"CARMEN CONSUMMARE!" Hermione shouted pointing her wand at the rooster. It hit the flying rooster squarely in the neck.

The rooster immediately began crowing at the top of its lungs and the basilisk immediately began to thrash its tail hitting the pillars left and right. Hermione ducked behind a pillar and chanced a look backwards. She saw that the serpent's eyes were slashed and streaming blood. Dumbledore stood near the statue with the sword in his hand dripping blood. At the moment the basilisk thudded to the ground, dead.

Hermione ran towards Dumbledore who threw the sword towards her. It clattered to the ground at her feet. She picked it up and climbed on to the back of the serpent. Once she reached its head she drove the sword down into the basilisk's head with all her might.

She slid down its side and went to check on Dumbledore. He was sitting next to a pillar with his hand clutched on his left arm. It looked like he had gotten hit with the flying debris from the pillars that the serpent hit. Thankfully the pillars were thick and huge enough that a little damage wouldn't destroy the foundation of the castle above. Hermione strengthened the damaged pillars with complex magic of repairing she had learned when she helped repair the castle after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Dumbledore had performed temporary healing charms on himself that wouldn't sap his strength. He stood up and then conjured glass bottles out of thin air. He went forward and collected bottles full of blood and poison from the basilisk.

"Good thinking professor!" Hermione said and tried to pull out a few fangs from the basilisk's mouth. She couldn't manage it with her own draining strength and had to use a dismembering charm. Hermione went to look for the rooster and found it dead at the end of the basilisk's tail. Hermione performed _Non Peredo_, _Non Conteram_ and _Tempore Novissimo_ on the glass bottles to preserve them.

Hermione and Dumbledore started to make their way back up to the castle, glass bottles and fangs gripped in their arms.

"Should we go and find the Diadem of Ravenclaw now professor?" Hermione asked once they ascended out of the pipe.

"I think we should leave it for a day when we're at full strength and not just been attacked by a huge basilisk." Dumbledore chuckled. Hermione pressed her lips together to keep herself from laughing out loud but then she looked at Dumbledore's grinning face and both of them burst into fits of laughter in the middle of the hallway.


	5. Chapter 5 - Hyde Park

Chapter 5 \- Hyde Park

18 August 1979, evening

Hermione was sitting out on her porch, having a cup of tea while watching the sunset. She saw Sirius probably making his way to the apparition point that was just ahead of the street corner from her. She saw his face turn towards her cottage and their eyes met. She smiled softly at him, looking up through her lashes and he smiled at backed. He walked over to her and sat down beside her, "how come you never replied to my owl?"

"I don't own an owl and yours flew away before I could finish my letter. I didn't know how to contact you" replied Hermione shrugging her shoulders, apologetically.

"And here I thought you were gonna break my heart Emilia" he said putting a hand to his chest dramatically. Hermione grinned looking towards him.

"Come on let's go inside and talk. It's getting cold outside." Hermione got up and walked inside the cottage, Sirius trailing behind her.

"Your house is really nice Em..." Sirius said looking around. He hung his coat on the rack and followed her into the kitchen.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Hermione asked a little awkwardly. She had never been good at making small talk with people.

"Nah, just had some at James' home. I just dropped by to see Lily." he replied shrugging his shoulders.

"How's Lily? I haven't seen her in a while" she replied perking up immediately.

"She's good as can be with all of this going around. A few order members went missing last month during a mission. Caradoc Dearborn became a good friend of ours during the missions we were assigned together. It's been hitting Lily a little hard right now." Sirius replied with sadness and dejection in his voice that Hermione had heard only in her time.

"I've been meaning to set up a shopping date with her but work keeps getting in the way. I'll make sure I see her soon." Hermione vowed. She was so busy planning with Dumbledore all the missions that were to be set for the order and their own personal hunt that she had put the Potters' on a backburner in her mind.

"She'd like that I think..." Sirius replied, "On another note, did you have any dinner plans by chance?"

"No, Sirius I haven't made any plans for dinner yet." she grinned at him.

"Well then let's go out. You and me. On a date." Sirius grinned back. Hermione rolled her eyes while laughing.

"Yes, okay. Let's go get some pizza. I don't wanna dine fancy." Hermione replied getting up from her stool.

"What's a pizza?" Sirius asked quizzically.

"You've got to be kidding me! You've never had a pizza! You're seriously missing out my dude. Let me go get changed and we can go to the one near hyde park in London." Hermione said rapidly. She apparated up to her closet and picked out her favourite black flared jeans along with a striped long sleeve shirt and black boots. After running a combing charm spell through her hair she tied it up in a loose ponytail and went downstairs. She had tucked her wand in her right boot and went downstairs grabbing her wallet.

She disapparated them in a back alley near Sophia's Pizzeria that she had come to love in the weeks she had been there. The pizza there was to die for and had become a quick favourite of hers. By the fourth time she had made it there, the wait staff had started to recognize her. Sirius hadn't let go of her hand even after they landed. After a quick walk around they entered the small shop and took a seat at a table in a secluded corner.

"You seem like you've been here a lot." Sirius said.

"Guilty. Its become a favourite of mine. I used to love eating pizzas in New York. It reminds me of home a little." Hermione replied with a twinge of sadness in her voice. She and Harry had found themselves at various pizzerias all over London once the war was over just to get away to constant press attention on them in those early days. Ron's death in the Battle of Hogwarts had been a huge blow to them both. They found comfort in each other's presence remembering their best friend.

Ron was duelling with Yaxley when Rowle hit him in the back with the killing curse. Hermoine had felt so broken and hopeless for a moment when she thought that both Harry and Ron were dead. Harry had moments later taken off his invisibility cloak from across the room. At that moment Hermione could neither shout with joy nor cry over Ron because of the exchange that had started between Harry and Voldemort. She pulled herself out of her memories and focused on the man sitting in front of her.

"Got lost somewhere?" Sirius asked softly.

"Yeah, sorry about that." she replied.

"No, no that's fine. You wanna talk about it?" he offered.

"Not really… So tell me, what's it like being an auror and all these days?" Hermione said steering the conversation away from herself. That was when Gianna came over to take their order.

"Hey Emilia! How are you?" she asked Hermione.

"Hey, Gianna! I'm fine. How's Mrs Serra? I haven't seen her yet..." Hermione trailed off.

"Oh, mom went to my sister Sara's house. She just had a baby and so mom's staying with her until she gets the hang of it. Anyways enough about me. What would both of you like to have today?" she smiled at her and Sirius. Hermione quickly introduced them both to each and they shook hands. She ordered a large pepperoni pizza and 2 glasses of soda for them both.

"I'm excited to try this apparently famous muggle cuisine that I've been deprived of for so long. To answer your previous question I only just graduated training 2 months ago and it's mostly been shadowing senior-level aurors in their cases. It's mayhem out there right now with the war going on. Every of the ministry employee is working overtime most days. We barely get time to breathe. What have you been up to since you came here to the UK?" Sirius grinned.

"Well, it's mostly been travelling around sightseeing and shopping for my new house. I've also looked into opening up a branch of my apothecary shop here but I don't think it's feasible so I'm gonna let it go." she said. Sirius chatted animatedly about his life at Hogwarts and his friends Remus and Peter.

"And so we almost got caught for the dungbombs we threw in Filch's office as a welcome to Hogwarts present but at the last moment, Remus saved our asses by causing a distraction with peeves. Peeves is a poltergeist that lives in the castle." Sirus finished laughing. By this Hermione was laughing so hard there were tears streaming out of her eyes. Soon they finished their dinner and they asked Gianna to bring them the bill.

"So I was thinking since you've introduced me to this most wonderful dish that I'll stuff my face with the rest of my life, it's only fair I show you a secret place that not many people know about." Sirius said once they stepped out of the restaurant. Hermione nodded towards him and he once again took her hand in his, tugging her towards the alley to apparate away.

When Hermione opened her eyes she realised that they had landed in the bushes behind the Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park. She looked at Sirius confused.

"Well, uhh... I've already seen the Peter Pan statue" she told him climbing out of the bushes after him.

"Of course you have seen the muggle park before. That's not what we are here to look at." He replied taking out his wand.

There were no muggles in the park this late at night so Hermione focused on what Sirius was about to do. He tapped his wand on the left toe of the statue 5 times in quick succession and stepped back. The statue moved forward to look down and then nodded. An archway appeared on the pedestal as the figures jumped away and Sirius and Hermione went through it. They had walked into a hidden part of the park that contained a part of the serpentine lake. It was filled with bioluminescent magical plants that made the lake water glow in a myriad of colours. Hermione's eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lips. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her life. The plants beneath the surface were swaying gently as though caught in a breeze. There were beautiful fishes swimming in the water which Hermione couldn't see clearly.

"It's so fucking beautiful...Wow..." she said looking around with wonder in her eyes, stepping closer to the lake to get a better view. She turned to look back at him and found him gazing at her. She realised they were standing almost chest to chest and her heart skipped a beat. An electric tingle went up her spine and she shivered slightly.

"Are you cold?" he whispered softly.

"I didn't shiver because of the weather." she smiled slyly back at him.

He grinned and then leaned down to kiss her. Hermione put her arms around his neck and his hands gripped her around the waist. The kiss started out as a sweet one as they both discovered each other slowly and taking their time. He smelled strongly of cigarettes and honey. Her hands travelled from the back of his neck to his hair which were held back by a simple leather strap. They both sank down on the soft grass beneath their feet without breaking their kiss and Hermione sat in his lap. They were so lost in each other that they didn't realise when a gnome crept near enough to lob a ball of mud towards their faces.

Hermione and Sirius fell apart the side of their faces splattered with mud. They looked at each other and burst out laughing. A few minutes later when they had stopped laughing both stood up and _scourgified_ their faces and clothes.

"My floo address is Number 19 Wgymore Lane in case you wanted to call" Hermione smiled at him. They bid each other good night with a promise to meet again soon and disapparated to their homes respectively.

Hermione landed in her foyer and hung her coat and bag in the small cupboard beside the doorway. It had been a long day and Hermione was looking forward to a hot bath and having some quality sleep. She climbed the stairs to her bedroom and found Fawkes sitting on the desk near the window with a letter under its legs.

"Hello Fawkes!" Hermione walked towards the bird to get the letter. It let out a soft caw and stepped aside from the letter. Hermione opened the letter to find a short message from Dumbledore.

_Dear H,_

_If you are sufficiently recovered let us meet tomorrow to deal with the Diadem of Ravenclaw. I'll be waiting for you in my office at noon._

_AD_

Hermione quickly scribbled _Yes sir_ at the back of the letter and put it back in the envelope for Fawkes to carry in his beak. He promptly took it and vanished in a burst of flame.

xxx ABC xxx

Hermione and Dumbledore walked side by side the next afternoon towards the seventh floor discussing the room of requirement. He had brought the Sword of Gryffindor with him and Hermione was carrying a basilisk fang in her hand. They entered the left corridor and stopped in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet. The trolls were holding their arms above their heads like Barnaby and trying to do a pirouette but kept falling into each other unable to maintain their balance. Hermione walked past the blank stretch of wall 3 times with closed thinking _I want to enter the room where everything is hidden_. She opened her eyes to find the door materialising in front of them.

"Merlin's pants! This room is enormous!" Dumbledore exclaimed.

Hermione started to walk in the direction of where she thought that old bust of a wizened warlock was kept searching for the diadem.

"The diadem is perched on a shelf somewhere in this room near a bust of a warlock. It's not very deep in the stacks so it shouldn't take us long to find." she told him.

They were in there for almost 3 hours when Dumbledore finally located in beside a stack of transfiguration books. The bust of that warlock was nowhere in sight. Hermione picked it up and looked up at Dumbledore.

"Should we do it here or take it somewhere else?" she asked him.

"Here I think." Dumbledore replied. Hermione moved forward to a crossroad between the shelves and laid the diadem on the floor. The diadem started to vibrate sensing danger as Hermione brought the fang closer to it. It suddenly started to ooze green-ish smoke out of the gem in the centre of the tiara. The smoke was foul-smelling and Hermione soon enough began feeling faint.

"Stab it quickly Hermione! Do it now!" Dumbledore said loudly. She lifted her hand with the basilisk fang, holding the diadem in place with the other and stabbed it right in the centre of the blue sapphire with the basilisk fang. The horcrux let out a loud wailing noise and then the diadem split in two parts right down the middle. Hermione fell back away from the pieces and Dumbledore scooped them up. He put them in his pocket and helped her up.

"I didn't know about the smoke. It didn't put up a fight the last time I saw it." she told Dumbledore.

"Ahh, that's understandable since you were in the middle of battle and afraid for your life. The horcrux might not have picked up on the imminent danger to itself then." Dumbledore offered.

They walked back to his office and Dumbledore offered to her lunch before she went back to her house.

"I would love that. Thank you, Dumbledore" she said politely. "So next we go looking for Marvolo Gaunt's cottage to get his ring. It's in Little Hangleton though I don't know exactly where in the village."

"I daresay we will find out when we go there." he said. Leonna the head-elf then brought them both lunch and Hermione said thank you to the elf to which Leonna bowed deeply and the vanished with a small _pop_.

"Hermione are you ready for your first mission for The Order?" Dumbledore asked her taking a bite of his shepherd's pie.

"Yes, of course, I am. Is it the Evan Rosier's kidnappings I told you about? Have you confirmed it?" She asked him.

"Yes, I confirmed it. I set Catherine Fry to tail him and he has been kidnapping unsuspecting muggle girls and keeping them in his manor in Torridge, Devon. You are set to go for a mission in 3 days' time with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Catherine Fry. I'll send more details closer to the time." Dumbledore told her.

After lunch, Hermione kissed Dumbledore's cheek and bid him goodbye and _floo-ed _back to her cottage to prepare for her first mission for The Order.


	6. Chapter 6 - House of Thorns

**Chapter 6 - House of Thorns**

21 August 1979, 7 pm

Hermione sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace waiting for the floo to bring her guests. Sirius was bringing Remus with him directly after work and Catherine would also follow soon. Dumbledore had given her the address to the cottage in a letter explaining that Hermione would be accompanying them in this mission. The fireplace suddenly glowed green and moments later Sirius stepped out. He grinned when he saw her and came to sit beside her.

"Hey Em, been waiting long for me?" he said

"Oh yeah, I've been waiting with bated breath for hours for you appear in the fireplace like a dishevelled Santa Claus" Hermione replied with a straight face. Sirius let out a booming laugh at this and Hermione smirked at him. At that moment the floo lit up again and a witch with fiery red hair stepped out of it.

"Hello, I'm Catherine and you must be Emilia." the witch said softly extending her hand out for Hermione to shake. Before she could reply the floo lit up for the last time and Remus Lupin stepped out with his robes slightly askew carrying the layout plans of Rose Hall in his hands. Hermione grasped Catherine's hand and nodded, giving her a polite smile of her own.

"Hey, Moony." Sirius went forward and tugged his friend towards her and introduce him to Hermione "This Emilia Smith, the witch who introduced me to this most amazing dish called pizza."

"Ahh..so you're the one!" Remus gave her a small grin and she gave him one right back. Remus looked younger and happier version of himself and not at all like the sad lonely professor who had taught her in the third year. This change in demeanour renewed Hermione's own sense of purpose as to why she was here in the first place.

"Guilty," she acquiesced "And you must be Remus, Sirius' roommate?" Sirius had told her he shared an apartment with Remus in Godric's Hollow. Remus nodded at her.

"Now that we're all here, let's get down to business and plan tomorrow's attack on Rose Hall." Catherine says immediately in a no-nonsense voice. Catherine was also an Auror like Sirius and James but was much more senior than either of them. Hermione's smile widened at her tone and she lead them all to the dining room so that they could spread the maps properly and plot their course of action.

"Would anyone like anything to drink?" Hermione asks politely to the three of them.

"A glass of water would be fine." Sirius replied and Remus and Catherine nodded along with him.

Once all of them were settled around the table with the plans laid out they start plotting long into the night.

Evan Rosier was a mid-level death eater, though swiftly rising in ranks due to the ready supply of young women he provided the others to do with and dispose of as they saw fit. He kept them in cages and must have instructed his house-elf to feed and water them. The girls were made presentable before they were sold off as slaves to other death eaters. Rosier was an entirely despicable, heinous, filthy, rotten scum that didn't deserve the air he breathed. They were going to make sure he was arrested and charged to the full extent of the law.

His 2 children were at his family home in France and his wife was long dead at this point. They were more than likely to find Rosier alone in his house when they went after him.

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22 August 1979, 11:30 pm

Hermione apparated to their designated meeting point before they all made their trek to Rose Hall on foot under disillusionment charms. Catherine was waiting for her and moments later the boys arrived. They were all wearing comfortable dark coloured clothes and Hermione and Catherine had tied their hair back neat but tight french braids to keep the hair out of their eyes. They all nodded at each other in greeting and then took their wands out to disillusion themselves. Then they silently began their walk to Rose Hall.

After 20 minutes of walking the gates of the manor house became visible. They were easily 10 feet tall wrought iron gates with vines of metal entangled through it all. As Catherine had told them all beforehand, the property was protected with complex wards that would alert the master of the house if anyone uninvited tried to push their way in. Hermione and Remus lifted their wands and started working to undo the wards around the house in unison. It took them the better part of an hour to bring down the enchantments not only on the border of the property but also all parts of the house. Then as a safety measure, once they were inside the gates, Catherine set up an anti-apparition ward that wouldn't let Rosier apparate away to safety before they got to him.

They knew from ministry records that his house by the name of Getu had died 2 weeks ago and he hadn't replaced him yet. This made their task easier because elf magic was unpredictable and depended on the commands given by his/her master.

Once they were inside the house the group split as planned with Hermione and Sirius going to subdue Rosier, who was likely in his study or if luck was on their side asleep in his bed. Catherine and Remus would go towards the basement where the girls were kept. Remus would stay disillusioned to be the backup in case somehow they were attacked. Catherine would meanwhile free the girls and lead them out of the basement and into the driveway in front of the house. Once they were all safely secure they would wait for Hermione and Sirius' signal that they had secured Rosier. After which Catherine and Sirius would wait for the Aurors to show up and arrest the bastard while Hermione and Remus left the property to apparate away to Hermione's house where Dumbledore would be waiting for them.

They all nodded to each other and then Hermione and Sirius went up the stairs towards the wing in which they knew from the house layout the master bedroom was situated. They had all cast soft-footed charm on their feet so as to not alert Rosier with any creaks or groans the floor would make.

As they had hoped Rosier was in his bed snoring deeply which could be heard even on the other side of his door. Hermione raised her eyes to look up at Sirius with a grin on her face and found him with a terrifying grin of his own on his face. Sirius took off his disillusionment charm while Hermione did not. He opened the door with a silent spell and both of them slipped inside silent as wraiths. Hermione went towards the bed to look down upon Rosiers sleeping ugly mug, Sirius right behind her and found his wand lying on his bedside table. Hermione picked it up and twirled it in her hand lazily then handed it to Sirius who immediately put it in his boot. Sirius hit Rosier with a powerful body binding curse squarely in the chest. His body froze immediately with his eyes still shut. Sirius then proceeded to wrap his body with ropes as an added precaution. They knew Rosier was awake now and listening intently for who was in his room even though there was no way he could do anything without his wand in his hand.

Their mission was going swimmingly up till now. Hermione moved towards the windows that overlooked the front of the house to keep watch. The next step of the plan was to wait for Catherine to show up in the driveway with the girls and then Hermione would alert Sirius of the fact by tapping twice on his right shoulder. They waited for almost 30 minutes before the front gates of the house swung open and more than 2 dozen girls made their way out with Catherine leading the way. Most of them were limping or looked like they were supporting injuries of some kind or another. Some of them leaned on others as they trudged down the driveway on foot. They were unclear before as to how many girls were actually being kept in the basement as there was no way to check beforehand. The sheer number of them made Hermione seeth. What kind of a fucking monster was Evan Rosier?

Hermione turned from the window to alert Sirius who immediately sent the signal -his Patronus, a dog- to Catherine to indicate that they had Rosier under their control. Sirius then levitated Rosier's body downstairs and into the hall of the manor house and walked outside towards Catherine. As soon she saw Sirius making his way towards him she sent out her Patronus -a falcon- to the auror department alerting them to arrive at Rose Hall as soon as possible for a retrieve and rescue. Hermione tapped Sirius' shoulder once and whispered a soft_ bye_ to indicate she was leaving the premises as soon as the other Aurors started arriving. She could see Remus' form slightly shimmering at the edge of the fountain and made her way towards him. Then she and Remus ran for the gates to get out of the anti-apparition wards and go to her home. They waited for Aurors to show up before they left. Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived with another man that Hermione recognised was Theodore Murdock.

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Hermione landed right in the middle of her foyer holding hands with Remus. The two of them quickly took off their disillusionment charms and made their way to her living room fireplace to call Dumbledore.

"It's done Dumbledore" she called out to his office, her head sticking out of the fireplace. Dumbledore came into view, rising up from his desk.

"Ah excellent, excellent. I'll come over in a few minutes then…" he said. Hermione nodded and backed out of the fireplace.

She stood up and found Remus pouring himself a generous glass of Ogden's Firewhisky.

"I hope you don't mind me helping myself but I need it." he said softly looking at her.

"Pour me some too," Hermione said shaking her head towards him "Dumbledore will be here soon"

They were both nursing their glasses in silence looking at the fire when Dumbledore came a few minutes later.

"Sirius and Catherine are not yet back?" he asked once he took a seat in the armchair near them.

"They should be back in an hour. Everything went according to plan on my end." Hermione said to Dumbledore. She then looked at Remus with a question her eyes.

"I'd rather only tell it once. Let Cate and Padfoot come back first." he said solemnly.

It was after 3 am when the floo chimed again and Sirius and Catherine stepped out looking haggard. Hermione got poured them both some firewhisky and levitated the glasses towards them as the sank down on the sofa. Both of them looked gratefully at her and muttered their thankyous.

"Emilia tells me that her and Sirius' end of the plan went without any hiccups. What about you Cate, Remus?" Dumbledore prodded tentatively.

"It was all fine until we got to the basement. There were 2 extra wards that I dismantled within 10 minutes and then we got inside. It was horrible Dumbledore. Much worse than we expected. Not only were the girls kept there, but they were also in cages with their legs chained to the wall. They were not even given basic amenities and the place reeked so bad. I don't know how these girls survived it. Remus and I had to magically break each ones cuffs and dismantle the locks on their cages. I'm only thankful they are free now. All of them were transported to St. Mungos and are going to be there for at least a week, not only for physical but mental restoration as well. Aurors are combing through Rose Hall now to find any that were not in the basement and any other clues they can get their hands on. There were also reporters on the scene before Sirius and I left the premises. There should be coverage of it on the front page of every newspaper tomorrow. We made sure Rosier's dark mark was visible on his left hand and I'm pretty sure the reporters got photographs of that too. With any luck, this will be sufficient to keep him in Azkaban for the rest of his miserable life." Catherine finished. Hermione was gazing at her in open-mouthed horror, her eyes wide listening to condition the girls were kept in the house while that bloody bastard slept like a king in his bedroom upstairs. She derived a vicious sort of pleasure that that dickbag would rot in jail for the rest of his life.

They all said goodbye to each other 15 minutes later and floo-ed back to their homes. Sirius gave her a lingering hug and she burrowed her head into his neck, both of them holding each other in silent comfort, before he left. Hermione trudged up the stairs and went to shower before she slept.

The mission was easy today in its execution but Hermione knew it was only the beginning and they were bound to get tougher and tougher as the Order missions made their way up the ranks of death-eaters right into the inner circle of Voldemort himself.


End file.
